Sunday 10 March 2013

The Sign of Jonah?



Just thought I should alert readers to a developing situation in the com box over at the earlier post Signs in the Sky, which seems to be pointing towards the significance of the "sign of Jonah" described in Matt 12. Fellow blogger federalexpression has highlighted some interesting features of the path of the 1999 solar eclipse (which I argue in the book was one of the "signs in heaven" described at the opening of the sixth seal). It turns out that this eclipse traverses some highly symbolic sites, some of which can be connected to the last post about the Three Days of Darkness. We're still in the process of researching this, and I'll have to compose a post to cover the material in more detail; but I think some of the findings that are unfolding here are fascinating!

I'll post the discussion so far below:

federalexpression:

The Solar eclipse you mentioned on 8/11/1999 reached totality [point of greatest eclipse] very near Ocnele Mari, Romania. I researched this area and quickly found an escavation report here:http://alexisphoenix.org/oltrivervalley.php

This is most interesting.

The Ghost Church of Ocnele Mari

When on the road to Rimnicu Vilcea, on the right bank of the Olt River, and about 5-6 Km before it, one can follow a road to the left, to Ocnele Mari. The small town of Ocnele Mari is about 8 Km from this crossroads. It is very old and important, because there are still a lot of rock-salt mines, which are used as a chemical feedstock for industry in the manufacture of many items.

The name Ocnele Mari means Large Jails. The criminal residents of the jails were used as forced labour in the salt mines, a valuable asset at all times for the country. In the middle of the town is this old Royal Church from the Middle Ages, now in ruins.

Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 2007


The walls of this church are cracked and broken, and trees grow up on top of and inside the old building. There are many signs around the church warning people to keep out, because at any time the walls could collapse and kill someone.

Dr Gheorghe asked many people in the town why the building is allowed to remain in this derelict condition, why it is not pulled down. He was told that the church cannot be destroyed, because once when a company was contracted to pull it down, every time that an attempt was made, someone from the company was killed, so that the contractors gave up their commission.

The local inhabitants say that even though the church is obviously not in good condition, the walls are cracked and broken, even so, no strong wind, or snow, or heavy rains can pull it down. The church endures.



Emmett:

That's amazing Fed! I would never have thought of researching this...

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock."
(Matt 7:24-25)

"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
(Matt 16:18-19)

This has to be the most symbolic total solar eclipse ever! The path of totality then moved from Rimnicu Vilcea in Romania to Turkey, somewhere between Izmit, the site of ancient Pergamum (the "throne of the beast"), and the site of the Battle of Manzikert. I'll have to try to find a more detailed map of the path of the eclispe.
This is insane! I've just realised that this ties together three distinct passages in the Book of Revelation:

“And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.

“‘I know where you dwell, WHERE SATAN'S THRONE IS. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells."
(Rev 2:12-13)

"The fifth angel poured out his bowl ON THE THRONE OF THE BEAST, AND ITS KINGDOM WAS PLUNGED INTO DARKNESS. People gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds."
(Rev 16:10-11)

So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.
(Rev 16:2)

I'm going to have to research this further and put the material up on a blog post.



federalexpression:

I bet there is more to this. I'll poke around a little more If I can get more details on the path of this eclipse. I think we should look at the other eclipse later in the year as well...

Emmett:

More detailed maps can be found below:http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/TSE1999/TSE1999.html

This is very interesting! Below is a detailed map of the path of the eclipse in the Middle East:http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/TSE1999/TSE1999Map/TSE1999MidEast.jpg


It does pass very near the site of the Battle of Manzikert, but as you can see on the map, it also passes through Al Mawsil - the city of Mosul in Iraq. This is right beside the ancient site of Nineveh! The sign of Jonah?!:

"Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
(Matt 12:38-42)

This passage is directly after Jesus speaking of Satan being cast out, and the binding of the strong man!



federalexpression:

Look at this: The engraved map of Kizkapan
http://blog.kurdistan-adventures.com/2012/06/12/kizkapan-a-cave-that-paints-the-ancient-history-of-a-people/

This site is just West of As-Sulymaniyah in Iraq and was also in the path.

Not sure what to make of it because I lack knowlege of the Medes. I wonder if it means anything to you.


The blog in the link above contains the following information:

The engraved map of Kizkapan

Abdulla talks about a map engraved on the walls of the cave, and states that in the map there are two men with their hands held up and their arrows on the ground, seemingly conveying a message of peace.
“This map is different from many other archeological maps as it has a message about war and hostility. There are two explanations on the map, the first explanation belongs to the archeologists Admon, M. Tofiq Wahbi and Taha Baqer, who believe that the men are two Zartosht religious men that take an oath by the fire. The second explanation proposed by other archeologists is that those two men are not religious men but rather leaders.
According to historical accounts, there had been a sun blockage around 585 B.C. At that time a fatal war ensued between the Medes and Ledes, but when the sun was blocked and it got dark, they stopped the war and announced a truce. Later the Ledes’ princess married the Medes’ prince in a marriage of political convenience to coincide with the truce.

Emmett:

This is amazing! I just read something about this today on Wikipedia:

"Eclipses have been interpreted as omens, or portents. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus wrote that Thales of Miletus predicted an eclipse that occurred during a war between the Medians and the Lydians. Both sides put down their weapons and declared peace as a result of the eclipse. The exact eclipse involved remains uncertain, although the issue has been studied by hundreds of ancient and modern authorities. One likely candidate took place on May 28, 585 BC, probably near the Halys river in Asia Minor. An eclipse recorded by Herodotus before Xerxes departed for his expedition against Greece, which is traditionally dated to 480 BC, was matched by John Russell Hind to an annular eclipse of the Sun at Sardis on February 17, 478 BC. Alternatively, a partial eclipse was visible from Persia on October 2, 480 BC. Herodotus also reports a solar eclipse at Sparta during the Second Persian invasion of Greece. The date of the eclipse (August 1, 477 BC) does not match exactly the conventional dates for the invasion accepted by historians."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse#Historical_eclipses
 

19 comments:

Sr. Marianne Lorraine Trouve said...

This is very interesting, Emmett!

Just to throw this into the mix, I noticed the 1999 eclipse occurred on the feast of St. Clare, whose name, of course, means light. When her mother Ortolana was pregnant with her, she went to pray at the cathedral of San Ruffino in Assisi. While there before the crucifix, she heard the words, "You will bear a child who shall be a light for all the world."

Pope Benedict said this of Clare in a general audience:
"Such episodes, like other miracles whose memory lives on, prompted Pope Alexander IV to canonize her in 1255, only two years after her death, outlining her eulogy in the Bull on the Canonization of St Clare. In it we read: "How powerful was the illumination of this light and how strong the brightness of this source of light. Truly this light was kept hidden in the cloistered life; and outside them shone with gleaming rays; Clare in fact lay hidden, but her life was revealed to all. Clare was silent, but her fame was shouted out" (FF, 3284).

Maybe she might have some connection with the illumination of conscience that may be coming in the future?

Rachmaninov said...

Dear Emmett,
My name is Stephen Walford. I just wanted to mention that I have had a book published several weeks ago called Heralds of the Second Coming: Our Lady, the Divine Mercy and the Popes of the Marian Era from Bl Pius IX to Benedict XVI. It has a very powerful Foreword by Cardinal Ivan Dias (who gave the famous apocalyptic homily as the Pope's legate in Lourdes in 2007) and is endorsed by bishops and professors of theology and mariology. The book details for the first time the prophetic teachings of these great popes and shows how there is a parallel prophetic message between the magisterium and private revelation. I hope you and all you readers will find it of great interest. It also has an Imprimatur from my local Bishop. The book is published by Angelico Press (Stratford Caldecott's All Things Made New) and is available here: http://www.amazon.com/Heralds-Second-Coming-Blessed-Benedict/dp/1621380157/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362949968&sr=8-1&keywords=stephen+walford
It is also available at amazon.co.uk.
I hope it can help serve in some little way this discussion, especially at such a critical time for the Church and the World.
God Bless
Stephen Walford

Emmett O'Regan said...

Thanks for pointing out the significance of St. Clare of Assisi here Sr. Lorraine! This just keeps getting deeper and deeper... Bl. John Paul II highlights the importance of dates and feast days in Tertio Millennio Adveniente. I don't think this is coincidence. So the St. Francis connection is here as well as the Battle of Manzikert. And "light" after darkness - amazing!

Emmett O'Regan said...

Hi Stephen,

Your book sounds VERY interesting indeed. Thanks for pointing it out! I'll make sure to get a copy when I get the chance... I'm really looking forward to reading it!

Emmett O'Regan said...

Sr. Lorraine,

St. Clare is rather oddly enough also the patron saint of telephones.
I've just noticed that 11th August is also the feast day of St. Philomena - the patroness of babies, infants, and the Children of Mary. This is beginning to look startling. I think abortion is once again being brought into the picture here. Earlier that year, in January 1999, Pope John Paul II made Our Lady of Guadalupe (which roughly translates as "she who crushes the head of the serpent") patroness of the Americas, and simulataneously, protectress of the unborn.
The key theme of Rev 12 is the "slaughter of the innocents":

"And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, SO THAT WHEN SHE BORE HER CHILD HE MIGHT DEVOUR IT."
(Rev 12:1-4)

And Rev 12 is a dramatisation of a solar eclipse, lunar eclipse and meteor shower - all of which occured around the turn of the millennium.
This makes me look back to the "sign of Jonah" connection. Upon emerging from the fish (which represents Christ?) after three days (of darkness?), Jonah is told by God to announce to Nineveh (the ruling world power) that it would be destroyed in "forty more days".
I think in these actions, God might be trying to tell us that America will be destroyed if it does not repeal its abortion laws. The frightening thing is that this year marks 40 years since Roe vs Wade and the legalisation of abortion in the USA.

Jamey said...

A commentary on secular tv here in Oz indicated Romney's campaign took a nosedive when a couple of his key men expressed strong negative views on abortion just prior to the federal election and this could have been the clincher for Obama. One Catholic commentator said the US people had made up their mind on God (and life) and it was the end of a civilisation, that would tie in well to your comment of the 40 days (years).

Sr. Marianne Lorraine Trouve said...

Emmett, I didn't know that about St Philomena. Very much on target! Abortion is certainly an important part of this picture. It's no accident that it was legalized and became accepted precisely during the time of the great apostasy.

And the three days is very much part of the Jonah connection. It took Jonah three days to cross Ninevah. And where the Bible translation says, "Forty days more and Ninevah will be destroyed..." a note in my Bible says that the Greek version says "Three days more..."

Also, at the end of the book, God says he is concerned for Ninevah, where there are 120,000 people "who cannot tell their right hand from their left"--ie., the children! 3 x 40 = 120 x 1000

In the state of Louisiana, recently a Catholic women's center was opened right nearby the state's largest abortion clinic, and is under the patronage of St. Clare, to fight abortion.



http://stclarechapel.com/

Sr. Marianne Lorraine Trouve said...

The St Clare Chapel prayer:

God of Mercy, you inspired St. Clare with great trust in You. Filled with that same faith, we beg you to protect all unborn children and their mothers from the scourge of abortion, and come to the aid of all threatened by the culture of death. Through your living presence in the Blessed Sacrament, enlighten the hearts of all abortion facility workers, and give them courage to conform their lives to your truth. Guide us to a deeper understanding of your love for us, and grant that we may have the grace to rely on you to provide for us, especially in our most helpless moments. May the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament bring near to Him the hearts of all expectant mothers, that His Living Presence may grant them the courage to choose life for their unborn children. Amen.

Tom said...

Hi Jamey.
Exactly. There has to be a strong pro-life position that is clearly and succinctly defended by the opposition candidate.

Hi Emmett,
Fascinating! So glad I found this site. I've started the book.

Hi Sister,
Thanks for the info on St. Clare. Brilliant!

Rachmaninov said...

Emmett,
Thanks for your kind reply!
God Bless
Stephen

Emmett O'Regan said...

This is getting really weird. I just remembered that Fr. Stefano Gobbi had prophesied that the destruction of America would occur precisely because of the sin of abortion:

http://unveilingtheapocalypse.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/fr-gobbis-prophecy-of-chastisement-of.html

And Cardinal Ivan Dias - who wrote the foreword to Stephen Walford's new book mentioned above by the author himself, gave imprimatur for Fr. Gobbi's book and presided over his funeral Mass:

http://www.mmp-usa.net/fr_francis_7_16.html

Laura in AZ said...

It is amazing how this all fits together.

And the awful sin of abortion... it's stench infiltrates our whole society over here. May Our Lord shine his Truth and Love on us all.

Thanks Stephen for the book suggestion!

Rachmaninov said...

Yes,
Emmett, strange! and I should say thank you to you, because it was through seeing your plug of "All Things New" by Stratford Caldecott in early 2012 that gave me the idea to approach Angelico Press who now published it.All this happened immediately after Cardinal Dias has agreed to write me a Foreword. God certainly works in mysterious ways, and somehow in this great drama we are all players

Rachmaninov said...

Sorry, I should say for those who dont know, that Angelico Press published "All things Made New"
Thanks Laura!

Sr. Marianne Lorraine Trouve said...

Emmett, I was just reading a commentary on Matthew by Fr Daniel Harrington, SJ. He notes two aspects of the sign of Jonah. The first is that Jonah is a type of Jesus' death and resurrection. Luke doesn't mention this aspect. DH says "In Mt the sign of Jonah is first and foremost life out of death after three days."

The second aspect has to do with preaching repentance. Jonah tries to avoid the commission from God to preach repentance, but then he does do it. "In this context the sign of Jonah is that pagans repent at the preaching of a Jewish prophet.... [for] Luke this sign of Jonah was the repentance of the marginal (tax collectors, prostitutes, etc.) at Jesus' preaching."
Then he mentions the Queen of Sheba and how the Solomon typology relates to Jesus as teacher of wisdom.

About binding the strong man, he says "For the idea of binding Satan and thus neutralizing his power, see Rev 20:2-3. The point is that Jesus has already bound up Satan, and his exorcisms should be understood as signs of the victory over Satan." He adds about Mt 12:28 "But if I cast out demons in the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has arrived among you" that this saying of Jesus is "perhaps the clearest of the 'present' or 'realized' eschatological sayings in the Gospels."

It's a lot to think about. I hope enough people will repent of abortion so that, like the people of Nineveh, they will turn to God and be spared the chastisement.

Emmett O'Regan said...

Thanks Tom! Hope you like the book!

Emmett O'Regan said...

Sr. Lorraine,

Thanks for pointing out that God spares Nineveh for the sake of the children! Also, the 120,000 makes me think of the 144,000 (120 x 120) who are standing with God on Mount Zion.

joerusso777 said...

29Just a quick note on our new Pope. Many are worried that he's a Jesuit. I think this is Hogwash. He's not a liberal at all. Plus he takes the name Francis. We know St. Francis was commissioned to rebuild the Church.

Also A prophecy from a Saint or Blessed...Emmett you would know this...says the Church would return to the Spirituality of St. Ignatius. Paraphrase ofcourse.

Also a possible hint at the unification of the Orthodox Church Pope Francis also Ordinary for Eastern-rite faithful in Argentina who lack an Ordinary of their own rite.

This is quite amazing to me!

iAM born again said...

The sign of Jonah was given on May 12th 2016 and in confirming the Lord
said to add the date, it is his age, 5 plus 12 plus 16 equals 33. The sign of Jonah is what we now have today and is 178 days today. 6 months with the sign of Jonah on Nov 11, 2016. iAM born again